Fotopro’s Mogo is a new flexible monopod with a range of different mounts for different devices that bases its design on the accessory maker’s previous UFO flexible tripod. The Mogo is compatible with all cameras via its different mounts, and its bendable design means you can attach it to poles, trees, wing mirrors, handlebars or just about anything around which you can wrap, bend, tie or coil it securely.
And you can stand it up as well. This is because the Fotopro Mogo is offered in a series of kits, each of which is based around the Mogo. Depending on your kit, it will include some form of tripod: either a small metal tripod or Fotopro’s flexible UFO2.
For this review I tested the Fotopro Mogo + UFO2 Kit, which includes the Mogo, UFO2, a Bluetooth remote trigger, smartphone clamp, GoPro screw and the small metal tripod.
Altogether the FotoPro Mogo + UFO2 Kit retails for $89, though you can – at the time of writing – get it for 33% off at $59 by backing the Mogo’s crowdfunding campaign on IndieGoGo.
Build Quality
The Fotopro Mogo is an interesting design beyond its flexibility. Its interior features a metallic core that is firm and rigid, but also easily re-shaped. Covering this wire interior is a rubber skin that’s easy to grip and, more importantly, is water and weatherproof. It’s very lightweight at just 800g
Everything about the Mogo and UFO2 feels solidly built and well design, even down to the mounts. The Mogo has a standard 1/4-inch screw for attaching mounts for various devices, and underneath the screw is a handy little wheel you can turn with your thumb to secure the mount in place.
At the top end of the Mogo is a joint on which there is an arm. Press the button and you move that arm up or down about 90 degrees to re-angle your camera as you need it. The joint is firm but moves quite easily, much like the Mogo’s body, and doesn’t drift from its position.
On the end of the arm attached to this joint is the GoPro mount. The kit I received had a second phone cradle mounted here on the GoPro mount. You can unscrew the cradle and there is a standard screw mount underneath.
Or you can use a coin to loosen the screw to remove this 1/4-inch screw mount and then attach your GoPro cage, or the GoPro Fusion 360 camera, as I did. To be honest, you can even slot your GoPro into the phone cradle, and it will hold it very securely.
If you remove both phone cradle mounts, the Mogo has screw threads on both sides so that you can use the Mogo as a sort of centre column on the UFO2 and metal tripods, or mount it flat so that the Mogo is parallel to the ground.
It’s also worth noting that the phone cradles also have two screw threads: one on the bottom and one on the side so that you can mount your phone in portrait or landscape format. It’s a nice touch, and really shows the attention to detail the team at Fotopro put into the Mogo’s design.
The Fotopro UFO2 shares the same design features of the Mogo: same bendable wire core covered by the same rubber skin. The 1/4-inch screw thread sits on a ball head which you can loosen and tighten via a wheel on the base of the head. It’s all very simple and intuitive to adjust.
All the wheels, mounts and other components (apart from the legs and ball head) are plastic, but they are thick and robust and solidly built.
Performance
When I unwrapped the Fotopro Mogo and UFO2 and the other components, I spread them all out in front of me and it did take a minute for the design to register how I could use them all together, and what for. But once I started fiddling, it all became clear.
The first thing I noticed about the Mogo and UFO2 was how light they are and easy to pack. I took my test sample on a trip down to the Jurassic Coast in the south of England. My HEX DSLR backpack was crammed full of gear already, but I was able to bend the Mogo and UFO2 into distorted shapes to fit the small pockets of space left in the bag.
And then when I was on location, I simply wrapped the Mogo around the handle on top of the bag for easy access.
It’s a rocky beach at Kilve, where I went, and I set up the Mogo on the UFO2 in a small tidepool as the tide was going out. The UFO2 stood strong. The UFO2 has rubber balls at the end of its legs to keep it sturdy, and these work fine. But to secure it further against the tide I bent the legs into an L shape, and it didn’t budge.
It was fun using the Moto and UFO2 to shoot at all sorts of unusual angles to get different perspectives. Shooting at a low angle in the retreating tide, mounted my GoPro Hero5 Black and wrapped the Mogo around my leg.
I then waded into the frigid water before deciding that was a bad idea, and then followed my small dog as she hopped from tidepool to tidepool. The footage was pretty shaky, as you’d imagine, but it kinda worked. And the Mogo never slipped down my leg as I did so.
I then took the Mogo off my leg and mounted it flat on the UFO2 and swapped for the phone cradle mount. Bending the UFO2’s legs from their previous L shape into a sort of h shape, I was able to fashion a makeshift rig that kept my Huawei Mate 10 Pro stable enough to follow my kids around the beach as they hunted for fossils. A couple ammonites later, and all three of us had come away with something from the beach we were quite pleased with.
Verdict
Overall, I was very impressed at the versatility of the Fotopro Mogo and UFO2. Its build quality is robust and user-friendly. It’s perfect for travel. And for such a modest price tag you get quite a bit of kit.
As well as my phone and GoPro, I mounted the Mogo to the Olympus PEN E-PL9. I even mounted the GoPro in the phone cradle, which you can do in a pinch. That’s how versatile it is. If you’re a photographer who likes to swap between many different devices, the Fotopro Mogo + UFO2 Kit is worth every penny.